Our trip to Oregon - Priya's first flight!

Yesterday was a big day for our little monkey! She had her first taste of travel via the friendly skies! We are happy to report that she did amazingly well - much better than we had expected!

We left our home at 1pm and finally arrived at our hotel in Salem at 9pm. Funny enough it took longer to fly there than it would have to drive! But the experience was a good one and it was encouraging to see how well Priya did!

Getting ready to board Priya's first plane - a United flight from Redding to San Francisco.

We appreciated being able to travel with some friends - Mark & Pam Gerring.

Our first flight was from Redding to San Francisco. Priya slept through most of it. We then had a 2 hour layover at SFO before boarding the next flight to Portland. Upon arrival in Portland we were happy to find all 4 pieces of our checked luggage - 1 suitcase for Ashish & me, 1 suitcase for Priya, our car seat and stroller. It's amazing how much STUFF babies need! Fortunately we didn't need to take our pack & play since the hotel provided one for her to sleep in - otherwise we would have been over out luggage limit! :) We then boarded a shuttle for a 1 hour trip to the hotel in Salem. Through it all Priya was able to sleep and eat and had only a few short episodes of fussiness. We were very thankful!

Priya enjoying some lap time with Daddy on the plane.

We are in Salem for a special weekend put on by the company Ashish works for - Schwan's. It is a special weekend to honor their employees with awards and recognition and to bless their spouses as well for the time that their long hours of work takes away from us. Schwan's covered the cost of everything - the flights, the transport to/from the airport, and they put us up in a really nice hotel - the Phoenix Grand Hotel. It has been a very nice mini vacation for us!

The family that flies together, stays together... Isn't that how the saying goes? :)

Today was the only day with an official schedule. We had a nice lunch and then Ashish & the other employees spent the afternoon in motivational meetings. While Ashish was in his meetings, I was able to meet up with a good friend of mine, Kirstin Moran, who recently moved from Redding to Portland. We spent the afternoon walking through a mall just a few blocks from the hotel with Priya in tow. Kirstin was then gracious enough to watch Priya for a couple of hours in the evening so that I could attend the semi-formal banquet with Ashish without having to worry about whether or not Priya would be ok to join us. It was nice to meet more of Ashish's co-workers and to see a bit more of his world.

I unfortunately wasn't able to stay for the entire evening because I needed to get back to Priya, but Ashish remained and is currently attending an awards ceremony that will be followed by a dance. Too bad I can't be there for the dance! I'd love to see Ashish cut a rug again! For those of you who have had the privilege of seeing Ashish dancing, you know that it's something special and shouldn't be missed! He's the life of the party! :)

We will head back home tomorrow. Fortunately we have a directly flight from Portland to Redding this time so we won't have to worry about more than 1 flight and long layovers. It also means that we'll get to stay longer at the hotel and enjoy its amenities before heading to the airport in the early afternoon.

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Sunday, February 17 -

Our time in Salem flew by! Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head back home! We checked out of the hotel around 1pm and boarded a shuttle that took us back to the Portland airport.

The lobby of our hotel in Salem just prior to our departure.

Priya was all tuckered out from 3 days of fun, so our return trip wasn't quite as easy. But we were thankful for the invention of baby slings! It helped to tuck our tired little girl inside her "Peanut Shell" and let her fall asleep as I bounced her through the airport and eventually onto the plane.

Boarding our final plane home from Portland to Redding - I'm wearing a baby sling and Priya is tucked inside! Yes, there is a baby in there!

After a little bit of fussing, Priya was able to fall asleep and snoozed her way through most of the flight. When she woke up she was still pretty tired and was ready to get home to her own bed. :)

A tired little girl - almost home again!

One of my RA's picked us up at the Redding airport and before we knew it our whirlwind weekend was over and we were safely back at home again. Priya went to bed almost immediately and will likely snooze most of the evening away. We are hoping to be able to do the same! It was a great weekend, but there really is no place like home!